Type | National Brand |
---|---|
Industry | Brewing |
Founded | 1991 |
Founder | Jeff Lebesch, Kim Jordan [1] |
Headquarters | , United States |
Number of locations | 2 breweries: Fort Collins, CO, and Asheville, NC |
Area served | Distributed nationwide in the U.S. |
Products | Beer |
Production output | 957,968 US barrels (2016) |
Revenue | $245 Million (est.) in 2015 [2] |
Owner | Lion (Kirin) |
Number of employees | 703 (2018) [2] |
Parent | Kirin |
Website | www |
New Belgium Brewing Company is a nationally distributed brewery in the United States. The brand produces Fat Tire Ale, Voodoo Ranger IPA, Mural Agua Fresca Cerveza, and La Folie Sour Brown Ale, among other regular and seasonal beer varieties. Founded by Kim Jordan and Jeff Lebesch in 1991 in Fort Collins, Colorado, the company expanded to Asheville, North Carolina, in 2016 and Denver, Colorado, in 2018. [3]
New Belgium Brewing company was founded in 1991 by Kim Jordan and Jeff Lebesch. [4]
The Fat Tire recipe originates from a co-founder's bicycle trip through Belgium from brewery to brewery. The company promotes its Fat Tire ale locally by the public placement of colorful vintage bicycles outside its brewery, which is located adjacent to the public bike path along the Cache La Poudre River.[ citation needed ]
In 1999, New Belgium became the first U.S. wind-powered brewery.
Before 2002, New Belgium distributed in only 16 states; by 2015, it had become the fourth-largest craft brewer in the country and the eighth-overall largest brewer in the United States. [5]
Lebesch left the company in 2009. [6]
As of August 2017, New Belgium was available in all 50 states. [7]
As of February 2018, New Belgium was distributed in Canada, Australia, Japan, South Korea, Sweden and Norway.[ citation needed ]
In 2019, New Belgium was acquired by the Australian subsidiary of Kirin beverage group of Japan, Lion. [8] [9] [10] [11]
In January 2023, New Belgium Brewing Company changed the recipe of the flagship Fat Tire ale, changing it from an amber ale to a lighter colored crisper ale. [12]
In early 2023, New Belgium Brewing acquired a production brewery in Daleville, Virginia from Constellation Brands, where New Belgium will focus on brewing Voodoo Rangers Juice Force IPA and the Fruit Force IPA. [13]
On June 13, 2023, New Belgium Brewing CEO, Steve Fechheimer, stepped down after six years. [14] CFO Danielle McLarnon was named interim CEO while they look for a new CEO for the company. [14] [15]
In September 2023, New Belgium integrated an industrial heat pump which is projected to reduce its greenhouse gases as well as its overall carbon footprint. [16] [17]
New Belgium's main brewery is in Fort Collins. In 2013, New Belgium had some 480 employees and more than $180 million in sales. [18] It has had an employee stock ownership plan since 2000 and in January 2013 became 100 percent employee-owned [18] through an ESOP. [19] [ promotional source? ] The 2014 documentary We The Owners examined New Belgium's focus on employee-ownership and how that shapes its overall culture of collaboration. [20] 2016 saw new additions to the brand, debuts of Voodoo Ranger and Day Blazer line.[ citation needed ]
New Belgium is known for its quirky corporate culture; the company employs eight "carnies," who work the brewery's Tour de Fat fundraising events, in addition to chemists, microbiologists, electricians, forklift operators, and engineers. [18] The company has low (3 percent) annual employee turnover, and a tenth of the brewery's employees may take extended leave in any given year. [18] Employees who become part-owners of the business are recognized at an annual Ownership Induction Ceremony and are presented with a cruiser bicycle recalling the company's symbol. [18] The company was named one of the "25 Most Audacious Companies" by Inc. magazine. [18]
Esquire selected Fat Tire Amber Ale as one of the "Best Canned Beers to Drink Now" in a February 2012 article. [21]
In May 2014, New Belgium began work on a second brewery in Asheville, North Carolina, which became fully operational in May 2016. [22] The brewery is positioned along the French Broad River on Craven Street in Asheville's River Arts District. [23] New Belgium's brewery, which is 133,000 sq ft (12,400 m2), has capacity to produce up to a half-million barrels of beer. [22]
Most of New Belgium's beer labels were initially designed by Anne Fitch, a watercolorist whose work appeared on all New Belgium beers for 19 years. [24]
In 2006, NBB changed its logo because it realised that beer drinkers could identify the Fat Tire label, but "didn't recognize the brewery label, or make the connection that New Belgium brewed Fat Tire and other best-selling brands, such as Sunshine Wheat." [24] The company's new logo "pays homage to the well-known Fat Tire brand bicycle" drawn by Anne Fitch. [24] Kim Jordan, the president of New Belgium Brewery, credits the success of New Belgium Brewery in part on Fitch's artwork: "Our beers were good, our labels were interesting to people, and we pretty quickly had a fairly robust following." [25] In 2010, however, New Belgium unveiled its four-beer Explore Series, whose labels featured a different design.
Heineken N.V. is a Dutch multinational brewing company, founded in 1864 by Gerard Adriaan Heineken in Amsterdam. As of 2019, Heineken owns over 165 breweries in more than 70 countries. It produces 348 international, regional, local and speciality beers and ciders and employs approximately 85,000 people.
Marston's plc is a British pub and hotel operator. Founded by John Marston in 1834, it is listed on the London Stock Exchange. Marston's disposed of its brewing operations in 2020, selling the assets to a newly formed joint venture with the Carlsberg Group to create the Carlsberg Marston's Brewing Company (CMBC), in which Marston's plc holds a 40% share.
Anchor Brewing Company was a brewery on Potrero Hill in San Francisco, California. Founded in 1896, the brewery has undergone several changes in location and ownership throughout its history. After years of declining sales due to competition with larger breweries, Anchor was purchased by Frederick Louis “Fritz” Maytag III in 1965, preventing its closure. The brewery operated at its current location since 1979 and was one of the last remaining producers of steam beer, a variety of beer trademarked by the company.
Stevens Point Brewery is a regional American brewery located in Stevens Point, Wisconsin. The brewery is the fifth-oldest continuously operating brewery and the third-oldest privately owned brewery in the nation.
Beer was introduced to Canada by European settlers in the seventeenth century. The first commercial brewery was La Brasseries du Roy started by New France Intendant Jean Talon, in Québec City in 1668. Many commercial brewers thrived until prohibition in Canada. The provincial and federal governments' attempt to eliminate "intoxicating" beverages led to the closing of nearly three quarters of breweries between 1878 and 1928. It was only in the second half of the twentieth century that a significant number of new breweries opened up. The Canadian beer industry now plays an important role in Canadian identity, although globalization of the brewing industry has seen the major players in Canada acquired by or merged with foreign companies, notably its three largest beer producers: Labatt, Molson and Sleeman. The result is that Moosehead, with an estimated 3.8 percent share of the domestic market in 2016, has become the largest fully Canadian-owned brewer.
Full Sail Brewing Company is a craft brewery in Hood River, Oregon, United States. Founded in 1987, Full Sail was the first commercially successful craft brewery to bottle beer in the Pacific Northwest for retail sale, and one of Oregon's early microbreweries. The first beer packaged was Full Sail Golden Ale, followed in 1988 by Full Sail Imperial Porter, Full Sail Amber Ale, and Wassail Winter Ale.
Beer in the United States is manufactured in breweries which range in size from industry giants to brew pubs and microbreweries. The United States produced 196 million barrels (23.0 GL) of beer in 2012, and consumes roughly 28 US gallons (110 L) of beer per capita annually. In 2011, the United States was ranked fifteenth in the world in per capita consumption, while total consumption was second only to China.
Genesee Brewing Company is an American brewery located along the Genesee River in Rochester, New York. From 2000 to 2009, the company was known as the High Falls Brewing Company. In 2009, High Falls was acquired by the capital investment firm KPS Capital. Together with newly acquired Labatt USA, KPS merged the two companies as North American Breweries. Along with this change, High Falls Brewery changed its name back to the original "Genesee Brewing Company" operating under the North American Breweries name. In October 2012, North American Breweries was purchased by FIFCO.
Beer in the Netherlands mostly comprises pale lagers like Heineken and Grolsch. Heineken is the world's second-largest brewer.
Beer in Japan mostly comes from the country's four major breweries, Asahi, Kirin, Sapporo and Suntory, which mainly produce pale lagers around 5% ABV. Beer is immensely popular, far ahead of sake consumption.
Blue Moon Belgian White is a Belgian-style witbier brewed by Molson Coors under the name the Blue Moon Brewing Co. It was launched in 1995, and was originally brewed in Golden, Colorado.
Oriental Brewery or OB is a South Korean brewery currently owned by AB InBev, and initially founded by Doosan Group.
The North Coast Brewing Company is a craft brewery located in Fort Bragg, California. As of 2018, it is the 46th-largest craft brewer by annual sales volume in the United States.
Odell Brewing Company is an independent craft brewery in Fort Collins, Colorado. It's the 23rd largest U.S. craft brewing company by the Brewers Association. Odell Brewing is known for their hop-forward and balanced IPAs.
Bell's Brewery, Inc. is an American craft brewing company, with operations in Comstock and Kalamazoo, Michigan. Bell's brews acclaimed beers such as Hopslam Ale, Oberon Ale, and Two Hearted Ale. It operates a brewpub and a store selling merchandise and homebrewing supplies at its Kalamazoo location. Begun as a homebrewing store in 1983, and producing beer since 1985, it is the oldest existing craft brewery in Michigan and the oldest craft brewery east of Colorado. As of 2021, it was the 6th largest craft brewery in the United States, and was the largest independently owned brewery in Michigan when founder Larry Bell sold the company to the subsidiary of the Japanese Kirin beverage group, Lion - an Australian producer of alcoholic beverages, at the end of 2021. The company also owns Upper Hand Brewery, a separately operated division in Escanaba, Michigan.
21st Amendment Brewery is a brewery located in San Leandro, California. Their original location is a brewpub and restaurant in the South Park neighborhood of San Francisco, California, two blocks from Oracle Park. The brewery's name refers to the 21st Amendment to the U.S. Constitution, which repealed Prohibition.
SweetWater Brewing Company is a craft brewery founded in 1997 by Freddy Bensch and Kevin McNerney in Atlanta, Georgia. SweetWater's beers are unpasteurized and distribution is limited to select states.
Fort Collins Brewery (FCB) was a craft beer brewery located in Fort Collins, Colorado.
Lion is an alcoholic beverage company that operates in Australia and New Zealand, and a subsidiary of Japanese beverage conglomerate Kirin. It produces and markets a range of beer and cider in Australia, and wine in New Zealand and the United States through Distinguished Vineyards & Wine Partners. It acts as distributors for a range of spirits in New Zealand, but does not own any distilleries outright, although holding a 50% share of Four Pillars Gin in Victoria.